A Democratic Socialist Blog

Solidarity, Equality, and Socialist Enlightenment

It’s about oneness. Its basic philosophy is that if the Buddha and Krishna and Jesus were all at a dinner table together, they wouldn’t be arguing. There is an essential truth. And we are limitless. Hugh Jackman

Most people are probably somewhat aware of the oneness principle of Buddhism. For Buddhists, oneness means there is no separation between one person and another, no separation between people and the substance of the universe, and no separation between the physical and the spiritual parts of one’s being. But it turns out even non-Buddhists can benefit from incorporating some oneness wisdom into their lives. Buddhism is a philosophy as much as Marxism. Buddhism realizes on facts and principal rather than ossified dogma.

Let’s start by considering the opposite of oneness—divisiveness. Unfortunately, there is a lot of divisiveness in our world. We see divisiveness a lot on the political scene –especially in an election year. And we hear divisiveness on talk radio that promote hate against against people who don’t agree with their religious beliefs, against people with certain lifestyles and against people from certain political parties. Those who rail against certain behaviors and certain ideologies are seeing themselves as separate from those they condemn. They are divisive and they practice the opposite of oneness.
But it turns out this is not the way to grow. In fact, just accepting the dictates of outer authority keeps a person mired in spiritual immaturity; it restricts them from developing a personal, inner authority. To gain personal authority a person must be willing to honestly face the important questions that are likely to arise as the family or birth religion beliefs rub up against those of the rest of the world. If that questioning leads the person to different answers than those held by her tribe, she must be willing to undergo the pain of not thinking like everybody else. She must be willing to disagree with tribal opinion for the sake of truth. She must have a strong enough personal identity to be willing to distance herself from her tribe.
Lets face its, The Left creates divisions and bitterness among people who are progressive or Socialist. The essence of Socialism is to be a binding force with the wisdom and compassion to discern facts and principals and use them to better the life of all.

For there may not be much we can, as singular people, do to defuse large scale conflicts and war, but as individuals, Buddhist or not we can most certainly seek a mindful understanding of personal conflicts, whether at work or home, with friends or strangers. When one side see’s an attempt of the other side to reach out a hand of friendship and a kind smile, many volatile situations will resolve quicker and with much less hardship than those that make no attempt at reconciliation. However, nobody expects you to relinquish your point of view or conception of a certain situation, and to do so would just lead to you being stepped on and taken advantage of in future dealings. As in all things, recognizing all need compassion is the key.

Competing interest groups cause conflicts on the basis of ego. It is about “My Oppression” And people who are considered oppressed. They are blinded to and even reject the oppression of others. This selfishness cause anger and concern among those with different views who do not realize we all matter.
harmony with Dhamma means that it is based in the realization of human interdependence.

A Buddhist Scholar states:
In other words, our Socialism must be moral, rooted in siladhamma (morality, normalcy). Siladhamma consists of relationships and activities that do not oppress or take advantage of anyone, even oneself, and that are for the mutual benefit of ourselves, others, and humanity. As we saw earlier, social oppression is rooted in personal and structural kilesa, that is, selfishness. Eliminating such selfishness is the task of siladhamma, religion, and Dhammic Socialism. Whether our Socialism can go further than the moral level and achieve a society in which all are free of not only selfish behavior but selfish thinking need not be discussed here. I think it is enough for now to set our sights on a society in which selfish behavior is minimized. Nonetheless, as we will discuss later, importance must be given to a deeper morality that short circuits selfishness and a spirituality that eliminates selfishness, if people are to control and transform their behavior for the sake of the Dhammic Society. People require a vision that shows how true happiness lies in Dharmic Socialism and a enlightened society rather than in selfishness, consumerism, materialism, and the like.